Seasons are a funny thing in L5R-land. Not for us is there nostalgic talk of summer being known by the smell of a fresh mowed lawn or the crack of a wooden bat. No, we have Kotei season, Con season, Winter Court. And, most anticipated of all – preview season.
For the last preview today – more anti-dueling meta! And it’s a doozy:
Strategy – Regret
0GC
As a Focus Effect: After this duel ends, its winner’s controller loses 1 Honor for each card he focused.
Open: Target one or more Followers or Items in your discard pile: Attach them to any of your Personalities, paying all costs.
A sword strike, once made, cannot be withdrawn.
1FV
When the focus effect comes into play, that’s probably 4 honor loss, which I hear is pretty good – although I suppose the Kitsuki and Kakita might just be going dishonor anyway, in which case it doesn’t really matter at all. The real question with these cards, however, is always whether the ability is worth it (no one is playing cards just for their Focus Effects these days).
Regret seems to have potential in that regard. Yeah, people don’t get too excited by non-Battle abilities, but the potential to “draw” a lot of cards is not to be ignored. You’re probably most excited if you can drop 3-4 big attachments before a final swing. On the other hand, it’s against a military deck that you’re more likely to have had that many attachments destroyed (since they play with more effects that destroy a card without attachments). And no one cared about Preserving Forces, which is kind of similar (if you’re a Follower deck). And the most popular big attachment deck – Dragon Kensai – already has recursion built into the box. Hmmm . . . I seem to be talking myself out of the relevance of this one.
Yeah, it is yet another anti-dueling card which would be relevant if dueling decks were that good. As they are not, I don’t think that one makes much sense. Maybe for Spider Kensai? In any case, this card seems to continue the trend seen this Arc. Not much to see here, again.
I can see potential for a duleing dishonor that slips these in to challenges and just treats them like a bomb (happily loosing the actual duel). The problem is you will only pull that stunt once on an opponent and you are likely focusing from your hand.
I think as dueling defense… nah I wouldn’t touch it. Its only use is the second ability and that’s one of those “if my game is going badly, this might help” cards. The demanding environment where every card counts makes that hard to include.
I really like the link between the card’s name, the focus effect and the art. .